On this episode of SPORTS AND TORTS, David chats with Hall of Fame Broadcaster Milo Hamilton, long time play-by-play voice of the Astros, Braves, Cubs and Pirates. We'll also chat with College Baseball Hall of Fame Coach Bobby Winkles, the first varsity baseball coach at Arizona State University. He also managed the A's and Angels in the bigs.

Episode Segments:

Sports and Torts: Milo Hamilton

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Sports and Torts: Bobby Winkles

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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Milo HamiltonMilo began his baseball-broadcasting career in the Three I League in Davenport, Iowa in 1950. His big league on-air career has included stops with the St. Louis Browns (1953), St. Louis Cardinals (1954), Chicago Cubs (1956-57 and 1980-84), Chicago White Sox (1962-65), Atlanta Braves (1966-75), Pittsburgh Pirates (1976-79), and Houston Astros (1985-present).

Among his many highlights, Milo was behind the microphone for 11 no-hitters, Ernie Banksís five grand slams in a season, Roger Marisís 61st homer in 1961 (recreated on Western Union ticker), and Henry Aaronís historic 715th homer in 1974. He was on the Cardinalsí broadcast crew when Stan Musial hit his record-breaking fifth home run in a doubleheader, and he was doing the play-by-play 18 years later when San Diegoís Nate Colbert duplicated Musialís feat. He also called Barry Bondsís Major League record-tying 70th home run in 2001, and the Astros historic six-pitcher, combined no-hitter in 2003.

Throughout his 60-year broadcasting career, Milo has helped raise more than $2 million for various charities as master of ceremonies at auctions, March of Dimes, Epilepsy Association, City of Hope, American Cancer Society, Leukemia Society of America, and the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.

In addition to his remarkable career in baseball, Hamilton has considerable experience broadcasting a wide variety of sports, including Kentucky Wildcats basketball, the Chicago Bulls, DePaul Blue Demons, and Southwest Conference basketball.

Hamiltonís numerous awards include induction into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

Bobby WinklesBobby Brooks Winkles (born March 11, 1930 in Tuckerman, Arkansas) is a former baseball coach at Arizona State University. Bobby Winkles coached from 1959Ė1971 and was the first varsity baseball coach at Arizona State University. Winkles laid the foundation for the legacy that has become Sun Devil baseball. His overall record while head coach at ASU is 524-173. In his 11 years at work at ASU, Winkles coached ASU to its first three national titles (1965, 1967, and 1969). Winkles coached several great players while he was at the helm of the Sun Devils, including Rick Monday, Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Sterling Slaughter, and Larry Gura. He was named the 1965 and 1969 NCAA Coach of the Year and The Sporting News Coach of the Year in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Winkles was inducted into the ABCA Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. After coaching at ASU, Winkles went on to manage four years in Major League Baseball with the California Angels (1973Ė1974) and the Oakland Athletics (1977Ė1978). His No. 1 jersey is honored at Packard Stadium where the field is named in his honor.

Winkles is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. A right-handed-hitting and -throwing infielder, he played minor league baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization during the 1950s before becoming the Sun Devils' head coach in 1958 and served through 1971. He compiled a winning percentage of .751 (524-173) during his 14 seasons in Tempe.

In 1972, he jumped to Major League Baseball as a coach for the American League California Angels. In 1973, Winkles became manager in Anaheim, succeeding Del Rice.[1] His 1973 club won 79, lost 83 and finished fourth in the AL West. In 1974, after the Angels lost 44 of their first 75 games, Winkles was fired; his permanent successor was Dick Williams.

Winkles then became a coach for the Oakland Athletics; he managed them for parts of the 1977 and 1978 seasons, as he replaced (in 1977) and then was succeeded by (in '78) the same manager: Jack McKeon. The A's were then a struggling outfit in the final throes of the Charlie Finley era. His final managerial record: 170 wins, 213 defeats (.444). Winkles also spent a season, 1976, as a coach for the San Francisco Giants.

A brief coaching stint with the White Sox immediately followed his 1978 firing as A's manager. Then, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Winkles spent several years leading the player development department of the Montreal Expos, when the Expos had one of the most productive farm systems in the game. In 2006, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.